Independence Day
by lovablegeek
Summary: [PreRENT] It's the first 4th of July he can remember when April's not there. [One shot]


"Benny!" April shouted, her voice somehow penetrating every corner of the house. No matter how many times their parents told them not to yell in the house, they persisted in that particular form of communication whenever necessary – it wasn't their fault the hallways happened to be laid out so that they carried the sound of children's shouting well enough that yelling across the house happened to be effective. Since it was, they might as well take advantage of it.

Benny sighed, glancing over at Tom to shoot him an aggravated look that conveyed Benny's disgust at sisters in general and April in particular. Tom just grinned at him, safe in the blessing of being an only child (even if he had sort of adopted April anyway). The two of them had holed up in Benny's room not long after Tom had gotten here to spend the night, but even with the door closed it didn't quite keep out April's shouts. "What?" Benny called back at the top of his lungs. Tom winced and rubbed at his ear.

"You're gonna miss the fireworks!"

Another sigh from Benny, more aggravated than before. April had this crazy obsession with fireworks, and some place nearby had been setting them off every night as it got closer to Independence Day – they could see them from the window in April's room, and April insisted on dragging Benny to watch every single night. Tom grinned at him and hopped off the bed, tugging lightly at Benny's sleeve. "Come on, it won't take that long."

Benny slid off the bed more reluctantly than Tom and the two of them headed down the hallway to April's room. The door was open, so they walked in without invitation, Benny wrinkling his nose at all of the pink in the room – in the past year or so, since her seventh birthday, April had gotten really girly and felt the need to make everything in her bedroom frilly and... well. April stood on top of a chair she'd pulled up to the window, bouncing slightly, a pair of black braids on either side of her head bouncing along with the movement. Benny walked over to lean against the window beside her, Tom on the other side of April, also leaning against the windowsill.

"You know there are fireworks every night?" Benny asked lightly.

"But it's the fourth of July!"

"So?"

April shrugged. "Iunno. It's important."

Tom grinned at Benny around April. "_Duh_, Benny."

"Shut up," Benny answered, but rather calmly. Tom had a talent for saying things like that without actually making anyone mad.

Outside, there was a loud whistling sound as a streak of glowing white launched into the sky. "It's starting!" April squeaked happily, bouncing again, her eyes intently on the sky.

* * *

Benny watched as fireworks exploded over the harbor with a concussive boom, reflecting on the water white and blue and red. It was the first fourth of July he could remember when April wasn't sitting somewhere close by, bouncing as she always did, and it was the worse for the absence. Another few glittering explosions, and he leaned back against the backrest of the bench and looked down at his feet, jaw clenched. She should be here now. She would be if it weren't for Roger, heroin, his own reluctance to stop her... He didn't even know who or what to blame now.

A hand touched his shoulder, and he jumped and spun around to see Tom standing there, wearing a slightly apologetic expression. "I didn't mean to scare you," he said softly.

Benny thought about protesting that he hadn't been scared, but decided against it. It didn't much matter, he supposed. "How did you know I'd be here?" He hadn't told anyone that he'd be here, even Alison, so he couldn't imagine how Tom had found him...

Tom shrugged. "We came here last year. With April and everyone. I thought you might..."

"Oh. Yeah." Benny sighed and motioned for Tom to sit beside him. "And what, you didn't have anything better to do tonight?"

Tom didn't answer for some time after sitting down, his eyes fixed on the sky and the fireworks. One flared bright green, which Benny had always thought was an odd color for fireworks on Independence Day, but he didn't mention it. For a while he didn't think Tom was going to say anything, so it startled him somewhat when he finally told him gently, "I miss her too, you know." Benny looked over at him, but he wasn't looking at Benny, just staring out over the water. "I mean, I know she was your sister, but..."

"You were as much a brother to her as I was," Benny told him quietly. More, actually, and better at it than Benny had been... He frowned slightly, not bothering to fight down the pang of guilt.

"You know it's not your fault, right?" Tom asked gently.

"Yeah." His voice lacked the ring of conviction, though, as he watched lights flare in the sky, hang there for a moment as if weightless, and then fall back to the water, fading, dying.


End file.
